


It ends with you and me

by yourlionheartx



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Mentioned Racism, References to Drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 05:03:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13240998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlionheartx/pseuds/yourlionheartx
Summary: AU where Louis is a recent graduate who just got a job in a bank in Manchester and has a terrible sense of direction and Harry’s a homeless kid who knows Manchester like the back of his hand (also Zayn’s Harry’s streetwise friend, Niall’s a busker and Liam is Louis’ workmate)





	It ends with you and me

**Author's Note:**

> I was meant to post this at Christmas, but the wifi in our apartment still isn't working, so whatever Merry Christmas. Take care over the holidays and hope 2018 brings you all happiness and good things xxx
> 
> **

Louis has been in Manchester for exactly 38 minutes and he’s already lost. He isn’t sure what happened to the whole ‘knowing directions’ part of his brain, pretty sure he was born without it. He’s trying to light a cigarette, but his lighter isn’t working and that’s only adding to his frustration.  On his third attempt, he lets out a frustrated whine, throwing his lighter down onto the floor.

“Do you need a light?” a voice calls out. Louis jumps. He hadn’t noticed the boy sitting against the wall in front of him, sleeping bag pulled up to his chest and a coffee cup half full of loose change in front of him. Louis notices him now. He’s young, probably younger than Louis, with long black curls and big eyes.

“I – um, yeah, thanks,” Louis says.

The boy smiles and starts going through the different pockets in his big, scruffy rucksack. “One sec, I share this with my mate and he definitely has a lighter in here somewhere – ah, here.” He holds it out for Louis, who takes it with another thank you and finally gets his damn cigarette lit.

“You’re lost,” the boy says.

“How’d you figure that out?” Louis asks, returning the boy’s smile because he can’t help it.

“You look lost. You’re also in a slightly dodgy part of the city wearing a very fancy suit and shiny shoes. Looking very out of place.”

Louis looks down at his suit and back at the boy. “I look great though,” he says.

The boy lets out a surprised laugh before composing himself. He wets his lips with his tongue and lets his eyes flicker over Louis, which makes Louis’ cheeks flush. “Yeah,” the boy breathes. “You look amazing.”

Louis takes longer than the boy did to get his composure back. He stares at him for a moment, wondering exactly how old he is and what he’s doing out here with just a sleeping bag and a rucksack he shares with a friend.  Then he realises he’s staring and he clears his throat. “Well, I’m looking for East Mosely Street. I’ve found North, South and West but I’m starting to think the East one is a myth.”

“You’re on the right track. It’s at the end of that road, take a left. There’s a building there that has loads of scaffolding – they’ve been renovating it for weeks now – keep left along that road and you’ll see it.” The boy smiles, looking all proud of himself.

“You might have just saved my life,” Louis tells him.

“Which would, of course, be my pleasure.” He winks at Louis, actually winks at him and for a few seconds Louis’ knees are weak and he’s not sure where to put is feet in order to move forward.

 

 

An hour and two more chain smoked cigarettes later, Louis walks back down the same street, hopefully towards the train station. “Lost again?” he hears and it takes him a second to realise who’s asking. He immediately feels guilty because he wouldn’t have even made it to the interview if this guy hadn’t helped, and now Louis’ walking past like he’s invisible.

“It’s this way to Piccadilly station, right? Louis asks.

The boy chuckles. “Yes, it is.”

“Thank you again for your help earlier. I had a job interview, first one I’ve got after months of searching.”

The boy nods. “How did it go?” he asks.

“Pretty good, I think. I’ll find out by next week. So, maybe I’ll be seeing you more often.” He’s not sure why he says it. He just knows that he wouldn’t mind walking past this guy every morning on the way to work, saying hi or good morning, hearing him reply in that slow drawl. He wants to sit and talk to him, find out what he likes and what he hates. He wants to run his fingers through those curls.

“I’m not always here. Usually up by the Arndale Mall with my friends but the police keep clearing us off.” The boy coughs and crosses his arms tight around his chest, shivering.

The skies are an awful shade of grey and people on the street have started to speed up to get home before the rain starts again.

“Do you – um, want an umbrella?” Louis asks. He holds his umbrella out and the boy looks at it, looks at Louis, shakes his head.

“It’s okay, I’ll survive.” 

“I’ll see you around?” Louis can’t drag himself away from this pretty boy with his curls and dimples.

The boy smiles, looking down at the ground. “Sure, hope so,” he says.

Louis finally starts moving and then he hears a laugh behind him. “Take a left, love,” the boy calls. “You’re gonna walk straight past it.”

“Oh.” Louis turns and looks at him. “Thank you.”

“Alright.”

Louis watches him pull the sleeping bag further up his body, hiding his arms in the warmth and leaning forward to look at the change in his pot. He closes his eyes and Louis feels an urge to go and buy food and coffee for the boy, to invite him back to his house and warm him up, but he doesn’t even know his name. And he can feel raindrops so he turns and starts walking away. 

**

Harry moves over to let Zayn sit down next to him and pass him a coffee. They both just hold onto the cups, letting the heat warm up their freezing hands. They’re back outside the Arndale. It’s been a week, so hopefully the fuss has died down for a bit. It’s the best place in town to ask for money. Everyone’s leaving shops with extra change and dropping it in their cups.

“Who gave you these?” Harry asks, gesturing to the coffees.

“That guy I told you about with tattoos over on Castle street,” Zayn replies. He smiles. “He’s so nice. Really hot.”

Harry grins and takes a sip of his coffee, watching Zayn do the same. Zayn’s been on the streets longer than Harry. He helped Harry out at first, showed him the best places to keep sheltered from the rain, where to get food and hot drinks, how to cope with it all. Harry’s not sure where he’d be without Zayn.

Harry watches everyone walking past, their eyes everywhere but on the two boys sitting cross legged on the street. Some people cross the road before getting to them to avoid feeling guilty when Harry asks for change and they don’t want to give it to him. They all walk too fast, talking or typing on phones. Across the street Niall’s setting up his guitar and microphone. He waves over at Harry, and him and Zayn wave back. Niall’s always been nice. He gets hot drinks and pasties from Greggs for Harry and Zayn with some of the money he gets from busking, spends time to stop and chat to them and treat them like human beings.

Harry keeps watching and then he sees him, the guy from last week, wearing the same suit and smoking a cigarette with one hand, holding a Starbucks in the other. He’s walking fast like everyone else.

“Hey,” Harry calls out.

He stops short and stares over at Harry, brow furrowed at first. But then his eyes widen, and he gives Harry a little smile, walking over. “Hey,” he says, and Harry feels shy and excited, butterflies fluttering as Louis blinks his blue eyes and smiles at him.

“So, looks like you got the job?” Harry asks.

“Yep. I am now a banker, which obviously is all I have ever dreamed of being.”

“Everyone dreams of being a banker,” Harry says with a smile. “Why be a rock star or a best-selling author when you could work in a bank?”

“I know right,” Louis says. He takes a drag of his cigarette before putting it out with his shoe. “I’m Louis, by the way. We didn’t do this thing last time. The whole introduction thingy.”

“I’m Harry. This is Zayn.”

Zayn nods at Louis, his expression blank. He’s never very comfortable around people he doesn’t know.

“Nice to meet you both,” Louis says. “And I’ve got to run because it’s my first day and I’m trying not to fuck this up and go in late. So, see you later?”

Harry nods. “I’ll be here.”  He takes a sip of his coffee and ignores Zayn digging his elbow into his side as Louis walks away.

“You like him,” Zayn says.

Harry smiles, still watching Louis until he’s taken by the crowd and gone. “Yeah,” he says.

“I think he likes you too, you know?”

Harry rolls his eyes, huffing out a laugh. “Yeah like that guys gonna be into me. He’s probably got a rich girlfriend he met at university who has – you know, a house and a car and can buy her own fucking coffees.”

Zayn shoves Harry’s shoulder, shaking his head at him. “Don’t say that man,” he mutters.

Harry shrugs, looking back at Niall who’s started singing ‘Here comes the sun.’ He can feel Zayn watching him, so he turns and smiles. “It’s alright, Zayn. It’s always alright, yeah?”

Zayn nods and takes another sip of his coffee as someone walks past and drops a pound into the cup in front of them. “It’s always alright,” he repeats.

**

The next morning, Louis presses snooze on his alarm and wakes up after his train into the city has already left. He’s swearing and pulling on clothes that he finds on the floor, phone pressed between his cheek and shoulder as he apologises repeatedly to his boss. “I’ll be there soon, I just – my train has gone, yeah. The other one’s in an hour, I’ll grab a taxi.” Louis pushes his free hand into his trousers, pulling out a crumpled twenty-pound note. He might not have enough for a taxi. His boss hangs up. “Lottie,” He screams. “I need money.”

He manages to get to town and he’s running down the high street when he hears that busker from yesterday singing The Smiths ‘There is a light that never goes out’ and Louis pauses, turning to look, without even thinking about it. There’s Harry and Zayn. Harry’s sleeping on Zayn’s shoulder as Zayn asks people walking by for spare change, wishing them well when they ignore him and walk past. Zayn nods over at Louis and Louis nods back before he rushes along.

He stops on the way home. “Hey, sorry, didn’t say hi this morning. I was running late,” he says, crouching down in front of Harry. Harry smiles wide at him.

“Yeah, looked like it,” Zayn says. It’s the first time he’s spoken to Louis, but he isn’t looking at him.

“How are you?” Louis asks.

Harry nods. “I’m okay. Bit cold now though, isn’t it?”

It’s almost December and cold is an understatement. Louis looks at Harry’s shaking hands in his grey fingerless gloves and Harry shrugs, hugging his arms across his body so Louis can’t see anymore.

“It is, yeah. Is there a shelter round here for when it gets worse – like when it starts snowing?”

“There’s a shelter,” Zayn says. “There’s also like a hell of a lot of people who want to stay in that shelter. Top city for homelessness, Manchester.”

Harry nods. “Too many people, not enough space.”

“That’s shit,” Louis mutters.

“Niall told us that if we needed it he could let us stay on his sofa,” Harry says. He looks over at the blonde kid who’s now playing a Coldplay song. Louis feels so much gratitude for the guy right then, for being someone Harry can count on if it gets too rough out here. The idea of Harry out here in the snow is awful. Manchester gets horrifically cold in the winter.

“I gotta head home,” Louis says. “But, see you tomorrow. I’ll wake up on time and grab you a hot drink. What do you like?”

“Hot chocolate,” Harry say with an adorable smile.

“Hot chocolate it is then. Oh, and – I owe you a cigarette,” he says to Zayn, pulling his pack out of his pocket and offering it to Zayn. “Because I borrowed your lighter last week, I think?”

“Nice one, thanks.” Zayn pulls one from the pack and slides it behind his ear.

As Louis is walking away, he glances back and sees Harry watching him. Harry smiles and gives him a little wave before he turns his attention back to Niall. Louis feels that all too familiar buzz in his chest as he turns to head home.

**

He wakes up early the next day, feeling like there’s something worth making up to for the first time in a long time. a long time of lying in bed, job hunting, getting rejections, watching Netflix, ordering take out, bothering his sisters because he’s bored. He gets his coffee and a hot chocolate from Starbucks and finds Harry sitting in his usual spot. He’s alone this morning.

“Good morning,” Harry says as Louis approaches. It’s so early, Niall isn’t even setting up his equipment yet. Louis sits down in Zayn’s spot, knowing he has time to kill, as he passes Harry his drink.

“One hot chocolate for you,” he says. “Where’s Zayn?”

Harry takes the cup and warms his hands with it, bringing it close to his face to breathe it in. “Oh, he’s with his man up on Castle street.” Harry smiles to himself.

“His man?”

“Well, unofficially, but it’s getting there, I think.”

“Oh – cool.”

“How was your evening, do anything fun?” Harry asks.

“Um – not really. Helped my sisters with their homework, watched a few episodes of Friends. Kind of boring.”

“Sounds nice,” Harry says. he takes a sip of his hot chocolate and Louis tries to push down the guilty feeling that’s rising. Of course it sounds nice to Harry. Louis got to sit inside with the heating on and watch television while Harry had to try and make his sleeping bag enough to stop him from shivering.

“So, you didn’t – um - ” Harry stops and coughs. “Sorry, didn’t spend the evening with your um – girlfriend?”

Louis almost laughs. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m actually – I’m gay, but no boyfriend either. Just lonely old me.”

Harry nods, trying to hide his smile behind his cup. “Oh. That’s cool. Guys are cool. I like guys, girls, whoever, really, not much of an issue to me, you know?”

“Yeah. Cool.”

“Cool.” Harry drags out the word and takes another mouthful of his hot chocolate, closing his eyes as he swallows. “This is nice.”

Louis looks up when Zayn approaches, a coffee in his gloved hand. Zayn raises his eyebrows at Louis. “Morning,” he says.

“How’s lover boy?” Harry asks.

Zayn smiles, all smug. “He’s good. He’s – really nice.  Good to talk to. He likes comic books, good music taste - ”

“Oh God, Zayn, marry him already,” Harry says.

“Shut up.”

Louis smiles. “I gotta go. Work to do. Gotta suck up to the boss for being an hour late on my second day,” he says, getting to his feet.

“Thanks for this,” Harry says, lifting the drink. “See you this evening?”

“Yeah, for sure. I’ll stop by.”

“Cool. Have a good day, Lou.”

Louis’ sure that he blushes at the nickname. He walks away with a grin on his face, almost missing the turn he has to take to get to the bank. He hears Harry laugh and turns back. “I’m hopeless, I know,” he calls back.

“Good job you got me,” Harry replies.

Louis nods and turns into the right street. Yeah, it is a good job he has Harry.

 

 

“You made it,” Liam says as Louis walks in. He looks at the clock on the wall. “I mean, barely, but - ”

“Liam, shut up.” Louis walks past the counter and into the staff area, dropping his bag and gulping down the rest of his coffee before he throws the cup in the bin. When he walks out, the door is already open and customers are starting to queue. Liam looks pointedly at him.

“Shut up,” Louis repeats. “It’s literally nine o clock in the morning, how are you – so _you_.”

Liam is the only person at the bank around the same age as Liam. Everyone else is ancient, or ancient by Louis’ standards anyway. And Liam seems alright, if a little uptight about rules, but he’s probably Louis’ opposite in every way. He wants them to be friends but he’s struggling to find a common ground between them.

Liam turns to a customer, pulling on his jacket as if he thinks it will cover the giant tattoo on his hand. Louis isn’t sure how he got through an interview with all those tattoos. Louis has a lot but they’re mostly hidden when he’s in his work shirt and jacket.

“Caffeine,” Liam says when the customer leaves.

“Huh?”

“That’s how I’m functioning, Louis. I’ve had a large coffee and I’m going to have at least four more before lunchtime.”

Louis laughs. “Okay. Good, sounds good to me.”

He knows Liam finds it annoying, but Louis can’t help but make small talk between customers. “How are you with advice, Liam Payne?” he asks when the customers have thinned out a bit.

“I like to think I’m okay, why?” Liam’s twiddling a pen between his fingers like it’s a drum stick.

“I met a guy - ”

Liam drops the pen and goes to grab it off the floor but he hits his head on his desk on the way up. As he carefully places the pen back on the surface, Louis notices how red he’s gone. “Ow,” Liam mutters.

“You okay?” Louis asks.

“Yeah. Sorry, I just, you’re gay?” he asks, not looking at Louis.

“Um – I mean, there are plenty of reasons I could have met a guy – maybe he was a drug dealer or a salesman or a long lost relative - but, yeah, I’m gay. Is that a problem?”

“Of course not. I’m not, like, homophobic or anything.”

“Well, good. That’s good to know. Um – I was just gonna say that his situation in – uh, life, is different from mine. Very different, but he seems nice - ”

Liam looks at Louis with wide eyes. “Tell him you like him and wanna get drinks with him. Do your parents know?”

Louis blinks. “Um – know what?” he asks.

Liam lowers his voice even though no one else is in yet. “That you’re gay,” he says.

“Uh – yeah, my Mum and my step-dad and my sisters and my grandparents, uncles, aunts, second cousins. Not really a well kept secret. Pretty sure it was one those things where they knew it was coming before the coming out.”

“And they’re okay with it?” Liam asks.

“Yeah. Yeah, they love me and don’t give a shit.”

Liam lets out a shaky breath and turns back to his window. Louis watches him pick up some papers and straightens them. He turns the papers over, curls the corner of one sheet with his fingers. “Well, what do you have to lose then?” he says. Another customer approaches his counter and takes his attention, but Louis keeps watching him a moment longer, trying to figure out what just happened.

 

They decide to head to McDonalds for lunch. Well, Louis decides. Liam doesn’t want McDonalds because he thinks one big mac will make him put on 10 pounds. He seems a little overly concerned with his weight, Louis thinks, but he manages to convince him. Louis only really wants to go because McDonalds is very close to the mall and Harry is usually very close to the mall.

Harry and Zayn are sitting in their usual spot. Harry has his head on Zayn’s shoulder as they talk, but he sits up and smiles when he sees Louis approaches. That isn’t what catches Louis’ attention though because Liam has gone very still next to him and when Zayn glances up he seems to freeze too.

“Oh, Jesus,” Liam mutters.

“Liam,” Zayn says. “Hey.”

Liam forces a smile. “Hey Zayn,” he breathes. “How was your coffee?”

Louis’ mouth almost falls open. He looks at Harry, who is looking between Liam and Zayn with a huge smile on his face.

“It was good. Good coffee,” Zayn says. he winces and Louis winces for him too because if this is how their conversations have been going every morning then he needs serious words with Liam.

“Good,” Liam says.

“Wow,” Harry says. “This is painful. Lou, how was your morning?”

Louis bites back a laugh. “Boring, Harry. We’ve escaped, on route to Maccy Ds, right, Li?” Liam nods, his eyes still fixed on Zayn. “This is my co-worker, Liam, anyway. Guess he’s already met Zayn on Castle street, right?”

Louis winks at Liam and Liam turns to stare at Louis with wide eyes. “What?”

“It’s all good, mate, stop looking so terrified. Let’s get a burger before our lunch break’s over. Harry, Zayn, see you this evening?”

“See you this evening,” Harry agrees.

Zayn just nods and Liam starts walking towards McDonalds, so Louis follows.

“So, you’re the lover boy from Castle street? That’s a fun revelation. Unexpected.”

“Louis, don’t,” Liam warns.

“Come on, the guys gorgeous. I don’t blame you - ”

“I’m not gay,” Liam bites out.

“What?”

“I’m not gay, Louis. I don’t like guys. I just don’t. It’s all a stupid misunderstanding because I feel bad for him, so I buy him coffee sometimes and now he thinks I have a crush on him which is gross.”

“Right,” Louis says with a nod. “I mean, that totally explains the heart eyes.”

“I swear to God, Louis, don’t push me.” Liam doesn’t hold the door to McDonalds open for Louis, letting it swing back and almost hit him in the face.

**

“ _I’ve been lost, I’ve been found, but I don’t feel down_ ,” Harry’s singing along to Niall, who stops midway through his line to wave enthusiastically over at Louis.

“I come bearing coffee. It’s bloody freezing today,” Louis says, putting two coffees down next to the boys and sitting down with his own, crossing his legs under himself.

“Didn’t get my Starbucks this morning,” Zayn says, taking the third cup with a sad smile. “Has he – Liam, has he said anything?”

Louis sighs. “He just – he doesn’t know what he wants, Zayn, I don’t think he wants to admit what he wants.”

“What did he say?” Zayn pushes.

“He said he’s not gay. I mean, maybe he isn’t but I saw the way he looked at you and - ”

“It’s okay,” Zayn says with a shrug, cutting Louis off. Louis glances at Harry who is looking at Zayn with sad eyes. Harry reaches over to squeeze Zayn’s arm, but Zayn just rolls his eyes. “It’s – whatever, man. He’s just a guy, I don’t even really know him.”

He leans back against the wall and looks at Louis. “You got a cigarette?”

“Yeah, sure.” Louis passes him one

“Niall’s got a gig tonight,” Harry says. When Louis looks up from his coffee, which he’s blowing to try and cool down to drinkable temperature. Harry’s squeezing Zayn’s hand in his. It’s enough to make Louis wonder, for just a moment.

“Where?” he asks.

“Open mic night at The Whiskey Jar, other side of town. I can write down the address for you, so you don’t get lost.” Harry pokes out his tongue and Louis jabs in his side.

“Hey, I’m getting the hang of this city now. I can find it. I’ll be there.”

 

 

“I have plans with Dani,” Liam mutters when Louis mentions the open mic night to him.

“Who’s Dani?”

“My girlfriend”

Louis huffs out a dry laugh. “Right, okay”

“Why are you laughing?”

Louis shrugs. “No reason, man. No reason at all.”

“I like her – she’s a dancer. She’s very pretty.”

“She doesn’t exist, Liam,” Louis mutters, turning to smile at a customer as they approach. He can feel Liam glaring at him as he helps the woman to deposit her wages.

As she walks away, Liam tilts his phone screen towards Louis. There’s a pretty girl on the background, smiling with her arm around Liam. Louis looks for a second and then looks back at Liam’s face. “What’s your point?” he asks.

“That’s her, that’s Danielle. My girlfriend.”

“Liam, nine ‘o clock at The Whiskey Jar, okay? I’m not forcing you, but I am, like, here for you or whatever. If you want to talk - ”

Louis’ next customer is tapping her fingers against the counter as she waits. Louis turns to her. How can I help you today?” He can still feel Liam’s narrowed eyes on him. 

**

Louis turns up earlier than maybe he needs to. There aren’t many trains into the city so late. He finds somewhere to sit and orders a beer, looking around at the crowd. He sees Niall and waves. Niall comes over, a wide grin on his face.

“Hey, so cool that you’re here. Cheers,” Niall says. He taps his glass against Louis’.

“’Course man, looking forward to hearing your stuff.”

Niall looks up and his smile grows, as if that’s even possible. Louis turns and he tries really hard to stop his mouth falling open. Harry and Zayn are standing there. Zayn’s looking cool as always, hair tyed back and a leather jacket on, eyes scanning the bar. Harry’s smiling at Louis, all dimples and bright eyes. He’s wearing a pretty crazy patterned shirt with the buttons undone to his chest and a load of necklaces. He looks – Louis can’t find words to describe how good he looks but it makes something clench up tight in his stomach.

“Louis,” Harry says. “You’re here. I’m – cool, that’s cool.” He nods and then tears his eyes away to pull Niall into a hug. Zayn nods towards Louis and Niall, looking distracted.

“Look at you, scrubbing up nicely, Styles,” Niall says.

“Thanks, Horan. Got a special occasion shirt. Brushed my hair and everything for this.”

Niall laughs. “You look good.”

“Yeah,” Louis breathes. “I mean,” He clears his throat. “Yeah.”

Harry raises his eyebrows. “Thanks.”

His attention moves to Zayn when he feels Zayn grab his arm and all of them turn to see Liam walking in the entrance, hands shoved into his pockets. His eyes meet Zayn’s and Louis watches him swallow before he starts towards them.

“Hi, Zayn,” Liam says, as if no one else is in the room.

“Um - hi, Liam.” Zayn takes a step back, looking unsure.

“You want a drink?”

Zayn nods, smiling when Liam nods towards the bar and they both go together.

Louis looks at Harry with a grin.

 

 

Niall smashes it. His own songs are awesome, the kind of stuff Louis can imagine in the charts. He watches Harry singing along, this proud look on his face. A lyric about ‘you and me’ comes up and Harry’s eyes flicker over to Louis, his cheeks going pink when he sees Louis looking right back. Liam and Zayn don’t come back to their table. Louis glances up every now and then to see them talking at the bar, but half way through Niall’s set, they both disappear.

When Niall’s finished he goes to cheers with some of his uni friends and Harry turns to see Louis looking at him. “Hey,” he says with a smile.

“Hi. You want another drink?”

Harry shakes his head. “I’m good, don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

“What do you want to do? With life, I mean. What would you do if you weren’t a banker?” The question comes out of nowhere but Louis welcomes it. Harry’s not the kind of person who will ever let an awkward silence take over.

“I’d be a teacher. If I could afford to go back and do the course, but my first stint at uni kind of made that impossible. Lots of debt…” Louis trails off, trying not to wince when he realises he’s telling a literal homeless guy that he can’t afford something. Talk about ungrateful.

But, Harry just nods. “Awesome, hope you get to do that.”

“And you”?

Harry sucks on his bottom lip for a moment, looking out at the stage. He shrugs. “Musician,” he says. “I guess that’s about it for me. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Harry says with a grin. “Saving for a guitar. Niall says he’ll give me lessons. I write songs, they’re alright.”

“You can sing?” Louis asks.

“I think I can, yeah. Think I’m pretty good.”

“Show me,” Louis says, nodding up towards the stage.

“Oh,” Harry says, shaking his head. “There’s too many people, Lou. I’ve never, like – not in front of people.”

“I’ll sing with you? I like singing. What songs do you like?”

Harry shifts in his seat, looking at his hands where they’re locked together on the table. “Um – I don’t know.”

“What’s your favourite band?”

“Fleetwood Mac.”

“Oh, cool,” Louis says. “Go your own way? I know the words, I think. Let’s get Niall on guitar, come on.” Louis grabs Harry’s arm and pulls him up.

Harry stumbles a little on the way and he wishes he had taken up Louis’ offer of another beer because he’s gonna need some liquid courage for this. They get up on the stage and Harry watches with wide eyes as Louis adjusts the mic stand and Niall starts strumming out the chords to practice. No ones paying that much attention to them. All the actual acts have finished so people are focused on getting drunk, chatting, picking people up.

“Alright?” Louis asks.

“Guess so,” Harry mutters. He steps towards the microphone as Niall starts playing the song. He doesn’t exactly have time to get nervous because Louis jumps into the first verse and Harry has no choice but to sing along.

Louis watches his face, eyes closing as he sings _if I could, baby, I’d give you my world._

Harry frowns, opening his eyes and glancing at Louis who realises he’s staring and not singing. “ _How can I when you won’t take it from me?”_ Louis sings back.

Harry smiles, flicking his hair back and looking back at the crowd, which Louis notes with his own smile, has started to take notice. A few people are looking up from their conversations and pints to clap along. The barman’s nodding his head to the beat.

And Louis can’t take his eyes off of Harry for the whole song.                                                        

He has this look of concentration on his face, so serious and focused, but towards the end of the song Louis watches it turn into a smile. Harry finally opens his eyes and looks at Louis. All Louis wants to do is pull him close and kiss that smile, get his hands on Harry’s cheek and in his hair. The song ends and Harry looks down at the floor, biting on his lip.

Louis opens his mouth, but before he can say a word, Niall is pulling Harry into a hug. “You’re fucking good, man,” Niall says.

Louis nods. He glances out at the crowd and sees Zayn sitting at the bar, same old vacant look in his eyes that Louis has started to get used to. He scans the crowd for Liam but can’t see him. When Harry notices, he gets off the stage and pushes through the crowd to get to Zayn.

Louis watches them talking, watches Harry pull Zayn into a hug and Zayn struggle against it, trying to push Harry away. Harry pulls back and presses his lips to Zayn’s cheek and Louis can see the eye roll from this far away, but then Zayn’s grabbing Harry’s hand.

Niall places his hand on Louis’ shoulder and Louis almost jumps, completely forgetting where he is for a second. “Don’t worry ‘bout that, mate. They’re – Harry and Zayn got a special thing, you know? Not romantic, but a connection.”

“Yeah,” Louis says with a nod. Of course they do. They have something Louis can’t begin to understand or be a part of. He’s never been homeless, never had to sleep outside a mall and beg for money.  

He’s not sure where Liam’s gone or what’s happened, but he has a feeling Liam’s fucked up, judging by the looks on Zayn and Harry’s faces. He doesn’t want to interrupt the conversation, so he says goodbye to Niall and leaves without either of them noticing. He calls Liam’s phone, but doesn’t get an answer, so he heads home.

**

“Where did you go?” Harry asks on Monday morning when Louis crouches down to pass him and Zayn cups of hot chocolate and coffee.

“I went home,” Louis says. “I was tired.”

Harry pouts. “You didn’t say bye. That was rude.”

Louis’ eyes flicker over to Zayn, who pulls a face that makes Louis think he probably understands. “Sorry, too many beers,” Louis says. Harry raises his eyebrows, but he doesn’t say anything. Louis is pretty sure Harry know that’s he only had two pints and he was no where close to drunk when they were on stage.

“Hey, didn’t get a chance to tell you – you got a good voice on you, Harry,” Louis says.

Harry smiles. “Thank you. Not too bad yourself.”

It’s December first and no time is being wasted on stringing up Christmas lights around the centre, displays in the shops are being changed to dancing Santas and reindeer, Christmas trees, heaps of presents, and Louis loves Christmas. It’s his favourite time of the year, but this year he can only think of Harry and Zayn sitting out here alone on Christmas day.

He’s going to be celebrating his Birthday too, surrounded by his family and presents and Christmas dinner with the heating on, and it doesn’t feel fair.

“I got to get to work, okay?”

Zayn looks up from his coffee. “Can you tell Liam I’m sorry,” he says.

Louis nods. “I don’t know what happened, mate, but I think he’ll come round.”

Zayn shrugs. “Maybe.”

 

 

“Right, what did you do?” Louis asks in the staff room. He pulls off his hat and scarf and gloves, shoving them into his locker as he glares at Liam, who’s siting at the table with a cup of a tea.

“Louis,” Liam shakes his head. “I don’t wanna talk about it, okay?”

Louis slams his locker closed. “Not okay. What happened?”

Liam sighs, stirring his spoon. “Kissed him,” He whispers. He closes his eyes, shaking his head again. “I told him I think he’s amazing and I like him and then I kissed him and then – then I think I got angry and left.”

“Angry at him?”

“Angry at myself, Louis. Never at Zayn.”

“Well, he thinks he did something. Wants me to apologise to you for him.”

Liam sighs. “I can’t like boys, I can’t. I don’t think my parents would be cool with it, my friends definitely wouldn’t be cool with it.” arryH

“Then fuck ‘em, Liam. They’re not friends. Friends don’t give a shit who you’re into. I had friends at school, right, after I came out, some of them weren’t alright. They’re not people I wanna be friends with. Don’t mess this up because of what other people might think. Fuck other people.”

Liam doesn’t say anything then. There’s still a few minutes before the bank opens. Louis sits opposite him on the table and Liam looks up at him. When Louis opens his mouth to continue, Liam cuts him off.

“I’ve spent months walking ten minutes out of my way every morning to try and bump into him and give him coffee, just so he could know that I care, I notice him, I want him to be warm and to talk to him about his interests. He’s important, he matters. That’s what I wanted, and I didn’t realise until recently what that meant, like, I really, really like him, Louis. I think he’s amazing.”

“Tell him that, Liam.”

“I don’t want to let him down. He deserves so much more than what he has. Life’s been shit to him and I don’t want to be another shit thing to add to it.”

“Right now, you are being a bit shit,” Louis says and he smiles when Liam huffs out a surprised laugh.

“Yeah, alright. I know,” Liam mutters.

 

 

Liam walks the same way as Louis after work. Louis sits down next to Harry and Harry smiles at him, moving to lean his head against his shoulder. “You little cupid,” Harry whispers into his ear. They watch Zayn getting to his feet, taking the hood of his parka off and frowning at Liam, who doesn’t seem to be able to remember how to speak for a moment. Then Liam clears his throat.

“Can we go – there’s a café over there. Nice coffee, real warm. Can we talk?” Liam asks.

Zayn nods. “Alright.”

As they’re walking away, Louis looks up and sees Niall watching after them. Niall looks back and Louis and Harry and raises his fist in the air, miming ‘yeah’ before he goes back to singing. Louis smiles at the song, Christmas lights by Coldplay. Probably one of his favourite Christmas songs. It’s getting dark and the streets lit up with twinkling lights. Louis moves and wraps his arm around Harry’s shoulder, holding him closer.

“I quite like you, Harry,” he whispers.

“Quite like you too,” Harry says back.

“Good. What you doing for Christmas?”

Harry moves back, looking at Louis with wide eyes. “I’m going home,” he says.

“Home?”

Harry nods. “Cheshire. I – um, my Mum doesn’t know. Thinks I’m working here. Should probably head home and tell her the truth.”

“You have a home? Why – I don’t understand.”

Harry shrugs. “I didn’t mean for all of this to happen and I didn’t wanna put her out, didn’t want her to realise how bad it had got. She’s the best person in the world, yeah? Haven’t spoken to her in six months because I couldn’t – I just couldn’t tell her I’m sleeping out in the street. We don’t really have a lot of cash, I can’t ask her to put me up, send me money, shit like that. She would do it and she can’t afford it.”

Louis shakes his head. “Harry, I don’t know what to say.”

Harry smiles and leans back into Louis. “It’s all good, Lou. Good things come out of shitty situations sometimes. Zayn, Niall – you, obviously. But, don’t tell Zayn this, he thinks he’s helping me out but I’m actually the one helping him. He was doing badly before we met. Really badly.”

Louis doesn’t want to pry further into that. He reaches to push Harry’s curls from his face and Harry smiles at him. “Cheshire, hey? How about New year?”

“I think I’d like to spend New year with you,” Harry says softly.

**

Louis stares out of the window when he wakes up. There’s frost everywhere and all he can think of is Harry. He layers up and stops for his coffees, chewing his lip and tapping his foot when the queue at Starbucks seems to take twice as long as usual. When he sees Harry, he can feel his stomach dropping. He’s huddled up next to Zayn and Zayn has an arm around his shoulders, talking into his hair. Zayn smiles when he sees Louis approaching.

“It’s fucking freezing,” Louis mutters. He crouches down, opens his paper bag and pulls out two coffees for the boys, leaving his own. “How are you guys? Can I get you anything?”

Harry moves his face from Zayn’s chest to look at Louis and his face is red with cold, teeth chattering. Louis feels wetness in his eyes. Harry looks so young. “Hey Louis,” Harry says, somehow managing a gigantic smile. He sits up, shivering as he reaches for the coffee and clutches to it with shaking fingers. “Lovely Louis,” he says to himself.

“It’s all right, Louis, I think we’re gonna try and get into the shelter tonight. If we get there around five we should get at least one bed. We can share, right, love?” Zayn says, pressing a kiss to Harry’s curls. Harry nods.

Zayn looks at Louis. “Thanks for whatever you said to Liam. It – I think you knocked some sense into him.” He smiles and Louis realises he’s only ever seen Zayn smile properly when he’s with Liam or talking about Liam.

“He thinks the world of you, man,” Louis says.

Zayn’s smile grows. “Feeling’s mutual.”

“Me and Liam are getting Christmas dinner with work tonight, so I probably won’t see you,” Louis says. He tries not to focus on Harry’s shaking hands, the red of his nose and cheeks. “Can you – hang on,” Louis pulls off his scarf and loops it around Harry’s neck and Harry stares at him. “Take care of yourselves, okay?”

Harry nods. “Thank you, Lou.”

 

 

If seeing Zayn with a dopey grin on his face all morning was surprising, the look on Liam’s face is something else entirely. Liam’s still serious at work, sometimes even uptight, still Louis’ opposite, although they have found that common ground. Cute homeless boys is an unusual common ground to find, but there it is. Liam’s in the staff room, humming along to the Christmas album that’s been playing on repeat for far longer than necessary.

“Alright, Tommo. Good morning. Made you a cup of tea and I bought some biscuits too.” Liam passes Louis a plate of assorted biscuits and a mug of steaming tea, grinning at him.

“So, can I ask? Can be a nosey little shit? Because I really want to be.”

Liam laughs. “I was just honest. I just told him everything I feel, why I’m scared, why I don’t want to hurt him, why I like him. In this silly little café with loads of people, we just – we held hands. We kissed. I kissed him in front of a café full of people, Louis. And I’d do it again and again and again.”

Louis smiles. “That’s – nice one. Really awesome.”

“I’m thinking of asking him over for Christmas,” Liam says. “Don’t like the idea of him being alone then, you know? It’s the worst day to be alone and he told me Harry’s going to his Mum’s place.”

“He is, yeah.”

“Do you think he’ll want to? Spend Christmas with me?”

Louis nods. “I think he’d like that.”

 

 

After the dinner, Louis’ walking back past the mall because he probably can’t get the train back to Doncaster this late but the best street for getting a taxi is just past the High street.

Something cold lands on Louis’ nose and he looks up at the sky, at white flakes starting to fall, swirling and settling on the ground. He shoves his hands deeper into his pockets and starts walking a little faster. There’s someone sitting outside the mall and Louis speeds up more. “Shit,” he whispers as he gets closer and sees the figure shaking snow from his curls, wrinkling his nose as he tries to curl up on himself, shaking in the cold.

“Harry?”

Harry looks up with wide eyes. “Lou?”

“What the fuck are you doing out here? It’s snowing,” Louis says.

“Yeah, thanks, didn’t realise,” Harry says with a smile. He shrugs. “No room in the shelter tonight. Me and Zayn went early but they’d already stopped letting people in.”

“Where is Zayn?”

Harry brings his closed hands to his face, huffing out a hot breath and rubbing them together. “I think, maybe, he’s crashing at his dealer’s apartment.”

“His what?”

“Dealer. Drug dealer? Like, the guy can put him up sometimes. Zayn pushes some pills, his friend gives him a bed. Zayn won’t let me do that. Says it’s safer out here.”

“Christ,” Louis mutters. “Come back to mine.”

Harry blinks up at him, brow creased. “I can’t – Lou, I can’t do that.”

“Harry, I am not leaving you out here in the fucking snow. Come on, get up. I’m getting a taxi from Church street to mine. It’s an hour, can take a nap. At mine you can shower and - ”

“No. I’m not fucking doing that,” Harry mutters. He turns away from Louis.

Louis crouches down in front of Harry. “I’m not asking because I think you need my help or that you’re helpless on your own, Harry. I’m asking because you’re my friend and I care about you.” Louis remembers what Liam said about Zayn about wanting him to know he matters, wanting him to be warm, to feel loved. “ _Please_ , Harry. Don’t ask me to get up and walk away. I can’t do that. I _can’t._ ”

Harry sniffs and his body shudders like he can’t help it. “Shit,” he mutters. “Alright, fine. But one time, okay?”

Louis nods, reaching out to take Harry’s hand and pull him up. Harry opens up his and Zayn’s back pack, shoving the sleeping bag into it.

“Zayn – does he really deal? I mean, you said dealer so, like, he takes the drugs too?” Louis asks. It’s not his business, but he can’t help thinking about it.

Harry shrugs, getting the backpack on. “Sometimes he deals. If he’s desperate, yeah. I mean, it’s generally pretty easy money in Manchester with all the students and shit. And he takes the pills if he’s bored and thinking too much, which is most the time for Zayn.”

“I’m not judging him, Harry. Just worried for him. That’s a dangerous thing for him to be getting into.”

“I think he knows that, he’s not an idiot.”

They’re quiet for a moment, walking past the mall and down to the taxi rank. Then Louis lets out a breath. “Do you deal?” he asks.

“Why, you want something?”

Louis rolls his eyes. “No. I took pills at uni, too many bad come down stories. I don’t think I’d do it again.”

“I don’t. Zayn won’t let me. Like you said, it can get kind of dangerous. Police are on us anyway and they target Zayn sometimes because, I mean, we’re in a shitty world and he’s not white so he’s gonna get searched more often than me so there have been times when I’ve held the drugs for him, but he won’t let me do anything else. He says if I get caught doing that, I’m gonna be more fucked than him. Got more to lose.”

It’s such a heart-breaking thing to hear that Louis has to stop for a second and catch his breath. He doesn’t know how long Zayn’s been out here for, but he never really thought about how low it must make him feel sometimes, how it can feel like he has no one to worry about him or care that he’s in trouble. How Zayn thinks he doesn’t matter as much as Harry because Harry’s younger and has a family who cares. Louis’ so glad Liam bumped into Zayn on Castle street. He can understand now how much Liam must worry about letting him down.

“Come on, Lou. There’s a taxi there. I want to sleep.”

As soon as they’re in the taxi, Harry falls asleep against the window, his breath fogging up the glass. Louis moves close to him and wraps his arm around his shoulder, pulling Harry into his chest, so the bumps and vibrations of the car don’t wake him up. 

At home, his sister, Lottie, is still awake but everyone else is sleeping. She’s filling her hot water bottle in the kitchen and she looks up as Louis comes in.

“Hey. Um - ” She looks at Harry. “Hey?”

Harry crosses his arms around himself in his baggy jumper with his scruffy hair and old ripped jeans, backpack on his back. Lottie turns to Louis with raised eyebrows.

“This is Harry. He’s gonna crash with me because it’s freezing cold, and if Mum asks then he’s a work mate and he lives too far to get a taxi back this late, okay?”

Lottie nods. “Sure. You need anything? I got an extra one of these upstairs.” She holds up the hot water bottle and Louis nods.

“Yeah, that would be lovely. Harry, this is my sister. She’s a saint.”

Harry smiles shyly. “Runs in the family, I guess,” he says.

 

 

Harry shifts on Louis’ bed, looking so uncomfortable. Louis is still trying to get used to the fact he’s here. One of the best people he’s ever met, this lovely boy with his stupid curls and dimples, sitting on Louis’s bed. “Last year, I worked here at a bakery,” Harry says.

Louis nods.  

“I was making enough money to split rent with my friend but then he lost his job and didn’t tell me. Turns out we weren’t meeting rent, at all. Every month, I paid my share but he didn’t pay his and eventually the landlord came over with eviction papers. All my stuff was boxed up already, so I put some of my shit in a bag and I checked into a cheap youth hostel.”

Harry takes a breath, leaning forward and shaking his hair out before he pushes it back from his face. “I wasn’t making enough money to stay at the hostel and buy food, and I was exhausted at work – like, not sleeping properly, not eating enough, and then I got called into a meeting with my manager who just told me he couldn’t keep me on anymore. So, I had to leave the hostel, obviously, and I was just sitting in the street near the Arndale, asking people for money, and then Zayn came along and sat next to me, gave me some of his sandwich.”

Harry stops there and Louis sits down next to him. He puts his hand on Harry’s knee and squeezes and Harry moves his hand to cover Louis’.

“Can I take a shower?” Harry asks. “I really want to take a really long, hot shower.”

Louis nods. “Of course you can, I’ll get you a towel.”

 

After Harry’s showered, Louis lends him a spare pair of pyjamas and they get into bed. It’s already past midnight. Harry moves in close to Louis, his arm around his waist. “Thank you, Lou,” he whispers.

“Don’t thank me. Go to sleep, love,” Louis says and he tries to relax as Harry buries his face into his neck and closes his eyes, his hair tickling Louis chin.

Louis stays awake for quite a long time after Harry’s breathing evens out.

 **

Harry’s still there in the morning, when Louis’ alarm blares and he rolls over to press snooze. It’s six thirty and the bank opens at nine and he can’t fuck up again, but he doesn’t want to have to wake Harry up. He runs his fingers through Harry’s curls and feels his fingers clench in Louis’ t shirt. “Hey,” Louis whispers.

Harry opens his eyes slowly, blinking at Louis. “Morning,” he says, his voice rough with sleep.

Louis smiles and presses his lips to Harry’s cheek. “I have to go to work, but you’re welcome to stay here until I get back.”

Harry shakes his head. “Got money to make, Lou. Got Zayn to look after.” He leans up and Louis presses another kiss to his forehead. Then, Louis ducks down towards Harry’s lips, but Harry pulls away, eyes going wide. “What are you doing” he asks.

“Sorry,” Louis says, feeling his face flush. “I just - ”

“Louis,” Harry sighs. He leans in closer and closes his eyes, and Louis tries again. This time, Louis presses their lips together and Harry leans into it, his hand coming up to cup Louis’ cheek. Louis feels warm everywhere. He feels like it’s the middle of summer and not a few weeks before Christmas. The snow must have stopped falling, the sun must be streaming in through the window and Harry’s curls are soft under Louis’ fingers.

Harry pulls back, eyes still closed. Louis moves back in and kisses Harry’s closed eyelids, his forehead, his cheeks, his mouth. He feels Harry smile against his lips. Harry makes a pleased sound and Louis feels his other hand, still gripping his t shirt as he pushes Louis onto his back, never breaking the contact between them. He pulls back with a shy laugh, moving to kiss over Louis’ neck. “God, Louis. I don’t – don’t stop kissing me.”

Louis laughs. “I won’t.”

They kiss until Louis’ alarm goes off again, and he groans, rolling over to turn it off. “Shit, we gotta go. Train leaves soon.”

Harry nods. “Yeah, yeah – gotta go.”

“You’re one of a kind, you know that?” Louis says. “You’re so special, I really care about you.”

Harry presses one more kiss to Louis’ lips and sits up, shaking out his curls. “You too,” he says. He looks out of Louis’ window at the snow, still falling. “Oh, wow.” He gets to his feet and walks over, and Louis watches him. “That’s a lot of snow,” Harry says.

Louis smiles and sits up. He opens his phone and has a message from Liam and a missed call from his boss.

_u lucky bastard trains all cancelled. u get to stay home. I hate u_

“Hey, Haz,” Louis calls out. “I got no work.”

Harry turns from the window. “Alright. Good, where were we?” He grins and climbs back into bed, leaning over Louis to kiss him again.

Liam calls again at half past eight and on his lunch break, but Louis leaves his phone in bed while he makes Harry a fry up, introduces him to his Mum, his step dad and his sisters, watches Love Actually with him curled up against his side, kisses him breathless over and over again.

It isn’t until the evening that he checks his phone.

_wheres zayn?_

_hes not outside the mall wasnt on castle st this morning_

_lou im worried_

_are you with harry? whats going on? he wasn’t there at lunch either niall hasnt seen him_

“Shit,” Louis mutters. Harry’s taking another shower. Louis dials Liam’s number.

“Louis?”

“Li, Harry’s here. Said Zayn’s at a friends. Maybe he just decided to stay there.” He doesn’t say dealer. Liam’s probably not ready to handle that one yet.

“Can I talk to him – to Harry?”

Louis glances at his bedroom door, tries to hear if the showers still running. “He’s in the shower. I don’t want to worry him, it’s probably nothing. It’s snowing. It’s better if he’s at a friend’s, right?”

“What if something’s happened though, Lou?”

“No, don’t think that. Nothing’s happened. He’s okay.”

Louis’s door opens and Harry’s standing there, in Louis’s jumper and tracksuit bottoms, hair dripping and eyes wide. “What’s going on?” he asks.

“Harry, it’s nothing. Zayn – Liam didn’t see him today, is all.”

Harry marches forward and grabs the phone. “Liam? Liam, he wasn’t on Castle street? Or at the mall? Oh God _. Fuck_ , I should have gone back this morning. If he’s gone and done something stupid I’m gonna kill him – no, not that stupid. He’s not killed himself, Christ. I mean, drugs.”

Louis rolls his eyes, running his hand through his hair. He can hear the complete silence on the other line for a moment and then Liam’s shouting something. “You don’t have a right to judge him, Liam. You don’t even really know him,” Harry snaps back. “You think when he gets bored and depressed he can watch a movie or call up his friends to hit the bar? Yeah, yeah he takes pills sometimes. When you feel that shit all the time and you know where you can get a rush and stop feeling shit, then yeah, you can get hooked. Of course, you don’t get it. you’re a posh little rich boy, Liam.”

“Alright, that’s enough. Give me the phone,” Louis says.

Harry passes the phone to Louis. “If he’s hurt, Louis, if anything’s happened to him, it’s your fucking fault.”

“Why? Because I didn’t want you to freeze to death? If something’s happened, it’s on Zayn. It’s not on you. The guy’s an adult, Harry. He makes his own fucking mistakes. Liam – no, don’t freak out, come on.”

“He’s missing, Lou, don’t tell me not to freak out. If it was Harry, you’d be freaking out.”

Louis sighs. “You’re both acting like he’s a kid. He’s fine. He’ll be waiting for you on Castle Street tomorrow wondering what the fuss was all about.”

Liam’s breathing too fast, panicking too much because Harry’s got him all riled up and Louis isn’t sure what to do to calm either of them down. “Okay,” Liam mutters. “No, you’re probably right. Sorry, I just – I don’t want him to be hurt, okay? I’m just worried about him.”

“Me and Harry are gonna head back into town and when you finish work we’ll meet and we’ll work this out, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah okay. See you at five.” Liam hangs up and Louis throws his phone down onto the bed.

“Did you have to tell him about the drugs, like really?” Louis asks.

Harry’s already putting on Louis’ scarf and his own gloves, not looking at Louis. “You’re not gonna get any of this, Louis. Neither of you are. Zayn has been there for me through everything. I gotta be there for him too. You’re never gonna understand that. I can’t drop everything for you because you think you’re some knight in amour saving me from the cold streets of Manchester.”

“I don’t think that at all. You know that.”

Harry squeezes his eyes shut. “I can’t deal with anything happening to him, Louis. Please tell me he’s okay.”

Louis steps forward and pulls Harry into a hug. “He’s okay, Harry. He’s fine. He’s been doing this for a long time, right? He knows what he’s doing.”

He feels Harry nod.

 

 

Zayn isn’t outside the mall, isn’t by the designer shops on Castle street, isn’t in St. Peter’s square or down by Canal Street. They rope Niall into helping them look, Niall who thought the guys had got into the shelter so didn’t stay to offer them both his sofa in his cramped studio apartment. Louis can tell Liam’s trying to keep calm. He thinks about what Liam said, if this was Harry you’d be freaking out, and Liam’s right. Louis would be a total mess right now if Harry had been missing for a day.

“You’re staying at mine,” Niall says, his arm around Harry’s shoulders. Harry sniffs and nods. “We’ll look again tomorrow, mate. It’s nearly ten.”

Liam sits down on a bench and drops his head into his hands. “Should have walked back past the mall last night,” he mutters. “Should have given him a place to stay. I literally live around the corner.”

“Come here,” Louis gestures for Harry and Harry lets him wrap his arms around him. “I’ll be here tomorrow. Be looking for him, he’ll be here.”

Harry steps back and moves to press his lips to Louis’. “Thank you. I didn’t mean it before, what I said. I’m sorry.”

“You were upset. I’ve forgotten it already, love, don’t worry.”

Harry nods and they say goodbye to him and Niall. Louis watches them walking away and then sits next to Liam. “Li,” he whispers.

Liam glances up at him. “You don’t think he’s hurt, do you?” he asks. “I couldn’t – I don’t know what I’d do, Louis. I know I haven’t known him long but he’s – I want him to be okay all the time.”

“I know. I get it. I don’t know, Liam, I hope he’s okay too. I feel like he will be here tomorrow, gonna think we’re all idiots for freaking out like this.”

**

Zayn isn’t on Castle street the next day. Liam gets two coffees like normal, wonders down past all the fanciest shops in town, ‘best shelters from cold weather here’ Zayn had told him. ‘Also the most police, but I’m good at hiding.’

Liam stops outside a Pandora jewellery store, right where he first met Zayn. He had stopped in his tracks and glanced over at this stupidly pretty boy with his tattoos and long eyelashes, and Zayn had looked up and caught his eye. “Got any change?” Zayn had asked.

“Yeah – yeah, here.” Liam emptied his pocket, the change from the Starbucks in his hand. He was going to wait until the shop opened, run in and grab his Mum a charm for her Birthday but he forgot all about that plan when he saw Zayn. He handed over his coffee. “You look cold. It’s a latte. I don’t know if you like lattes, but you can have this one if you do.”

Zayn had looked at the cup and back up at Liam. “You don’t want it?”

“I can make a coffee at work. It’s a terrible waste of money really, but the Starbucks is on the way, so – I can bring another tomorrow. If you have a friend who likes coffee.” He was rambling, it was stupid, but Zayn smiled at him and Liam couldn’t catch his breath for a second.

Zayn reached out to take the drink. “Thank you. I’m Zayn.”

“Liam.”

Liam places the coffee down next to the shop front now. Maybe he’ll still be around here, still be cold and need to warm up, so he leaves the coffee there and walks to work.

**

The next day, Niall tells them he saw Zayn by the station. He had seen him across the road and called out his name, but Zayn had pulled his hood over his head and quickened his pace. Liam starts going to the station to look every day before and after work.

On the tenth of December, he finds him. He’s got two coffees and it’s eight in the morning, still quiet, even in Manchester. Liam’s about to leave the extra coffee on the bench outside the station when he hears his name and he spins around so fast that he manages to spill some of the coffee on himself.  The near boiling liquid on his hand doesn’t even register, when he sees Zayn standing there. He looks okay, not hurt, still pretty, but maybe thinner around the face, darker under the eyes.

“Oh God, Zayn, I’ve been so fucking worried,” Liam says. He passes the coffee to him, wiping his hand on his suit jacket without thinking.

“I’m sorry. Had to lay low,” Zayn says.

“Louis said, yeah. Drugs. Great. Something else for me to worry about.”

“Never asked you to worry about me, Liam.”

“I don’t have a choice in that, Zayn. I love you, so of course I worry about what happens to you.” Liam blinks, eyes wide when he realises what he just said.

Zayn blinks back. “You what?”

“Nothing. I mean, I care. I want you to be okay.”

“You love me? Liam, you barely know me.”

“I didn’t mean that, it slipped out.”

Zayn tilts his head. “So, you don’t love me?” There’s a smile playing on his lips and Liam sighs.

“I’m just glad you’re okay. You ever want to lay low, Zayn, I got an apartment literally next to here. Newton street, by the music college.”

“I’m not gonna ask you to do that - ”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering.”

“Because you love me?”

Liam rolls his eyes. “Shut up,” he mutters, stepping forward to wrap his arms around Zayn and hold him close. “Don’t do that to me again, don’t fucking do that. I thought you were hurt.”

“I’m sorry.” Zayn moves to press his lips to Liam’s. “I’m really sorry.”

“Stay with me at Christmas,” Liam says.

Zayn closes his eyes. “Liam.”

“I’m working Christmas eve and boxing day, so I have no time to get back to my family in Wolverhampton. Louis is gonna be with his family, Harry’s with his. I’m not asking out of pity, I’m being selfish here. I don’t wanna be alone and I don’t want you to be alone, what’s the sense in that?”

Zayn swallows. “I guess. Yeah, there’s no sense in that.”

“Don’t make me spend Christmas with my dog and a pot of instant noodles and shitty Christmas re-runs on telly, Zayn. Not when I can spend it with you.”

“You have a dog? I love dogs.”

“Oh, so that’s convinced you. Not me, but my dog. Thanks, man.” Liam laughs, and Zayn joins him, shaking his head.

“I’ll spend Christmas with you,” Zayn says with a nod. Liam moves to press a quick kiss to Zayn’s lips and Zayn deepens it, gloved hand resting on Liam’s cheek as he kisses him back. Right in the middle of one of the busiest places in the city, where everyone’s getting on and off trains, rushing past to work. Anyone Liam knows could walk past and see them and Liam would just keep on kissing Zayn anyway.

“But, you know what I gotta do New Years, right?” Zayn says as he pulls away.

Liam nods, his fingers still in Zayn’s hair. He knows Zayn has to go and see his family, explain why he ran away all that time ago. There was a guy Zayn was seeing in his hometown who started to hit him, and it got worse and worse until Zayn felt he had to run away, start over somewhere new. Unfortunately, starting over wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be and his family are still waiting for him in Bradford. Liam can’t imagine how scary that must feel.

But Liam also knows, whatever happens, that Zayn has a home with him if he ever needs it. Liam hopes that after New Year, he can build up the courage to ask Zayn to stay with him for good.

**

The day before Harry heads home for Christmas, Louis walls towards him with a guitar case thrown across his shoulder. Ha

“I got you a Christmas present,” he says. He sees Harry’s eyes widening, staring at the case in Louis’ hand like it’s going to suddenly explode.

“Louis,” he says, voice sounding tight. “You didn’t - ”

Louis takes the case off of his shoulder and passes it to Harry, and Harry unzips it, blinking slowly at the guitar inside. “Can play it up at The Whiskey Jar next time we go. Sing another Fleetwood song,” Louis suggests.

“Louis, I can’t accept this.” Harry goes to try and give it back but Louis steps away, shaking his head. “It’s okay, it wasn’t expensive. Gave my friend a little cash for it because he’s moving to uni in Southampton.”

When Harry looks back at Louis, his eyes are wet. He shakes his head. “I didn’t get you anything,” he says.

“You didn’t need to. I got everything I need right here.” Louis leans in to press his lips against Harry’s. “This is for me too, for us to sing together. Maybe we could form a little band with Niall, hey? See if Liam and Zayn are secretly good singers and they want in.”

Harry lets out a small laugh, shaking his head again. “Thank you, Louis. Really, thank you.”

Louis brings his hand up push Harry’s hair from his eyes. He leaves his hand there in Harry’s curls and Harry moves to pull Louis into a hug. “You got my number, call me from your Mum’s phone on Christmas?” Louis asks.

Harry nods. “Of course. And I’ll come back to see you for New Year.”

“You better do,” Louis says, winding one of Harry’s curls in his fingers.  Louis kisses him again and then checks his watch, letting out a soft sigh. “I gotta go, love.”

“Yeah, me too. Got a train to catch.” Harry takes a shaky breath.

“You’re gonna be okay. It’s gonna work out,” Louis tells him.

“Yeah. Come here.”

Harry hugs him again, holding on for a long time and Louis breathes in slow, closing his eyes. “Merry Christmas, Harry,” he whispers.

“Merry Christmas, Lou,” Harry replies. He steps back with a grin. “I’m so happy that you have such a terrible sense of direction.”

Louis laughs. “Me too, thank God I got so lost that day.”

“Don’t get lost over Christmas. I won’t be around to save your ass.”

“I’ll do my best.” Louis feels a bit like he’s having one of those phone calls where neither person wants to hang up because they can’t bear not talking to the other person anymore. He’s going to be late for work. “Take care,” he says.

“I really gotta go.” Harry smiles at the guitar, like he’s just remembered he has it. “I’ll see you soon.”

As Harry’s walking away, Louis turns and sees Harry looking back at him. He thinks about when he met Harry in that alley, shivering in his sleeping bag. Harry didn’t have to help Louis find his way, but Louis’ pretty damn glad that he did.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from You and Me by Niall, which is obviously the song he’s singing in the bar when Harry and Louis catch each other staring. The song that goes ‘I’ve been lost, I’ve been found, but I don’t feel down,’ is Oasis, Half the world away. As always, this is un-betad, please don’t feel bad for pointing out any typos that I need to fix!
> 
> For this fic, I based Harry and Zayn's stories on real accounts I read online. I made it relatively easy for the boys to change their situations, because I can't write their family as bad people, but, obviously, this isn't always the case. Be kinder to people you see on the streets, make eye contact, smile, say good morning, buy them a warm drink or food if you have money to spare. Happy new year x


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